Chapter 1

"Life and death are the very foundation of all things. They enhance every emotion. Or, to put it another way, nothing is as dull as life. "- Jellal Fernandez.

A quiet sigh dispelled the shadows and the world slowly changed. The small room appeared as if in a dream. The dim light of a sparkling lamp in the corner barely illuminated the hall. A lonely bed against the wall, red silk sheets from under which two pairs of thin bare feet protruded. Nearby, on a small balcony under the light of a bright moon, a lonely silhouette was sitting. Leaning his broad back on the edge of the balcony, with the last of his strength he leafed through the blood-stained manga pages with his bloody fingers. On the cover, the title could be clearly seen: "Fairy Tail". With heavy breathing, he kept peering at the black-and-white pages and with a slipping sadness in his gray eyes, expect death. He spent this last moment not drinking or, as usual, in the company of women, but in a foreign country, with manga in his hands. A strange death, but not the worst. If he had known about such an end during his lifetime, he would probably have laughed fiercely.

The man's naked torso was almost completely covered in blood. At least six distinct bullet wounds were visible on strong muscles and poorly visible tattoos due to dark blood. The artery is hurt, no more than a minute left. The face turned pale, and life hastily flowed away. Over time, even sadness left his dull eyes, replacing cold indifference with a bit of unwillingness.

Not so long ago, he fulfilled another contract and hunted organ dealers. Usually, he never took on tasks of excessive complexity out of fear of being in the current situation. There are not many criminal gangs in Japan, mainly the strongest, who have long shared power, ruled. Most major crimes were always committed under their strict control. This time, even if someone said otherwise, this is exactly what happened. To become a part of someone's games did not hurt the pride of the "dead man" at all, rather he had already got used to something like that and usually stayed away.

All his life he wandered around the world and his skills saved his life more than once. Left arm, tattoo of a crossed moon on the shoulder, a clear symbol of belonging to a long-dying faction. Theft, contract killings, security and tracking. Each member of the group was required to possess hundreds of skills and only the most resolute took on dangerous tasks. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to learn anything from them. Only after passing the selection and getting the symbol of the moon, the group broke up, then it was then that he became a free traveler, earning money here and there. Skills had to be developed already in action. Drinking, money flowing like water, and mindless relationships with women became the only occupation. A life without a home and family, full of endless opportunities in freedom, has turned into an open life without commitment and regret. Perhaps only the risk of being killed and unpleasant loneliness, a weighty argument if we talk about the shortcomings of this choice.

It was almost impossible for him to find himself in such a position. He liked to take risks, but usually he got rid of enemies or left the country altogether. Even this time, fulfilling a long-standing promise to one of the leaders of the Japanese crime syndicate, everything had to go according to plan and the old debt had to be paid. But, one mistake and the result - six holes in the body and five dead people hidden in the shadows of the room. If you count the dead staff, then seven ... The women were supposed to work the night, but they stayed here forever. Their bodies can be seen even now in the dim moonlight and the sparkling glow of the lamp. The calm after the murders is a common thing, but now this scraping silence seemed to be calling out to the afterlife. The blood slowly spread, and the smell of death gradually increased. So the hour has come for the last survivor to die. For a short time he survived the killed enemies, not for long.

Having relaxed and began to read the manga before eternal sleep, instead of the usual drink in the room, death looked to him. Even with blood, but, he still decided to get his.

His fingers trembled, but he continued to turn over, as if this lesson was the last test, everything he could get hung up on and get distracted from the growing cold. Death was approaching, even if it did not bring pain, the fear did not disappear. In the past, he always believed in accepting death with a smile, but finding himself here all alone, without even experiencing suffering, fear slowly spread through every cell. Maybe it's all just a grave cold, the last feeling of reality ...

With a painful grin, flipping through the last page with a smiling blue cat, the man put the manga aside and brought a shaking hand to his neck. Vision blurred, he reached the end, in the last seconds, he raised a bloody hand to a small green shard on his chest. The pendant shuddered, an emerald light suddenly flashed in the empty eye sockets of the skull. Death blood awakened a dormant force within. Only he could no longer notice this dim glimmer ...

At the same moment, history changed, rules and laws were strangely distorted. The cold breath of death finally touched the soul of the man, life left the dead body. But the hand gripping the bloody amulet did not want to unclench it. The law of life and death was suddenly violated, the green skull sparkled even brighter, and then completely disintegrated into several lights. In a moment, emerald fireflies burst into the chest of the dead man. The heart then stopped completely.

The law must be fulfilled, but for some reason, the human soul did not leave the body. An emerald glow crept up to the quietly hovering white firefly. There was a feeling as if it was slowly dimming, wanting to fade away. Suddenly, emerald fire ruthlessly rushed to a small defenseless piece of the soul. Did he have a chance against such aggressive power? Perhaps no one in the world would have believed that this was possible. Only, this case turned out to be unique ... The human soul, even when it was fading away, turned out to be not so simple at all. The dark beginning, hidden deep inside, was never revealed during his lifetime. In a world without magic, this is absolutely impossible. Therefore, the hidden instinct for survival, embedded in the emerald brilliance, did not even attach importance to this senseless resistance. His mistake cost him everything!

In a moment, an emerald glow flared up. As if torn apart by something terrifying, it turned into a real flame, but absolutely could not escape. As if food had fallen into the mouth of a wolf dying of hunger, the situation has changed radically. The dark principle, hidden in the green shard, was instantly absorbed by the whole soul. Then, there was peace. Long and uninterrupted rest. Time and space have ceased to matter. The fusion was completed and, as it should have happened initially, the merged substance went instead of its creation. Into the world of magic, to complete the cycle of life and to enter a new stage of existence. Everything should have gone perfectly, but the ancient dark magician could not imagine that his last resort to a new life would so easily succumb to someone else's influence. He could not even imagine that someone in the world could have a similar primordial darkness in his soul. As a result, everything did not go according to plan. Instead of his own rebirth, most of his soul was absorbed, and the rest was locked, in the last desire to survive. All saved gifts are given to the unknown ...